Searchlight Pictures is owned by Disney (the United States, NYSE: DIS), which acquired the brand on 20 March 2019, as part of a $71.3 billion deal that also included 20th Century Studios and National Geographic.[1][2] Searchlight Pictures was founded in 1994 in the United States and was independent until 2019.
Evidence: The Walt Disney Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2025-11-13, SEC EDGAR, 13 November 2025. Verified from filings; last checked .
Searchlight makes smaller, awards-oriented films and has produced several Best Picture winners including Nomadland and The Shape of Water. It came to Disney with the Fox acquisition and continues to operate separately from the main studio.
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
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See the full Disney brand portfolio (13) →
Disney controls 13 brands on Brandtree, 10 of them in media & entertainment.
Disney has more brands in film studios on Brandtree than any other owner: 3 of 19.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Lionsgate Films | Lionsgate | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Columbia Pictures | Sony | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Toei | Toei | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Anime Limited | TOHO | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Astro Shaw | Astro | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| Studiocanal | Canal+ | 🇫🇷 France |
| Cineplex Pictures | Cineplex | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Studio Dragon | CJ ENM | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
Disney is a publicly listed company headquartered in Burbank, California, United States, founded in 1923. Brandtree records 13 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: DIS.
Disney was founded in 1923 by two brothers making short cartoons and is now the largest entertainment company in the world. Its purchases of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and most of 21st Century Fox mean a substantial share of the highest-grossing films ever made belong to one owner.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Searchlight Pictures is not one of them.
Disney acquired most of Twenty-First Century Fox for about $71.3 billion in cash and stock, after outbidding Comcast. The film and television studios, National Geographic and the Star and Hulu stakes transferred; the Fox news, sports and broadcast assets were spun into the separate Fox Corporation.
The parent company of Searchlight Pictures is Disney, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Yes. Searchlight Pictures originated in the United States in 1994 and its owner, Disney, is also headquartered in the United States.
Disney completed its acquisition of Searchlight Pictures on 20 March 2019, after announcing the deal on 14 December 2017. The deal, which also included 20th Century Studios and National Geographic, was valued at $71.3 billion (enterprise value).
Searchlight Pictures was an independent company from its founding in 1994 until Disney acquired it in 2019.
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Searchlight Pictures is still owned by Disney. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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